Football: watch brands follow like sheep
A few years back, it would have seemed strange that a Swiss luxury brand, which was also a flagship of fine watchmaking, would stoop so low to associate itself with football stadiums and hence win over the abundant, colorful rabble.
By Joel Grandjean
Editor-in-Chief
Those who are anti-football know it. They are about to have a hard time, or even worse. The World Cup is looming in the dark, ready to cruelly invade their usual TV shows by transforming the much-awaited film or the final episode of a thrilling show into a large greenish patch of earth. There, some degenerates, desperate for audience ratings, run about in the Brazilian mugginess, hypnotized by a simple piece of leather filled with air. Even if the non-football brigade decide to go to a peaceful terrace to let their imagination run free, their peace will still be continuously disturbed by animal-like outbursts made by slaves to football.
A communication bend that targets the nation
The worst is reserved for people who like watchmaking but not football. Usually, they would tell an eager listener about their micromechanical preferences. Now, they are forced to keep quiet to avoid disturbing the concentration of those who are engrossed by the diktat of the spectacle projected on big screens.
Even worse, they will discover with dismay that apart from the teams and their players, a flock of lemmings has been let loose on the pitch this year; soon, all Swiss watchmaking brands will have blindly followed by stepping into the breaches of football communication. This is a quite surprising turn of events since watchmaking brands used to be crazy about the more noble green playing areas associated with polo matches and accompanying horse manure, or with that of golf courses and their players’ varying handicaps. These brands tended to go for adventurous challenges and expressed a clear preference for tennis courts or tarmacs swarming with cars going so fast they seem ready to take off. One must also admit that watchmaking brands were partial to scuba diving or sportive chronometry, too. In short, they favored activities that corresponded better with what watchmaking is supposed to embody: precision or waterproofness.
A tag-along sector
This is a sector in which brands have advanced together; it only takes one brand to shine in a domain and try and make it its specialty for the others to come charging like ferocious hounds fighting for the same bone. Indeed, amongst watchmaking brands there has always been what we could call a “snowplow” tendency to follow the traces of the path opened by others.
Parmigiani Fleurier Pershing 05 CBF
Who started the football trend? Well, does it really matter? In the following days, instead of fighting against my bitterness and allergy to this sport, I will rather try to guess what will be the next wind that will carry watchmaking brands. I may even go as far as wooing one of those lonely women who resignedly follow the enlightened football lovers, either out of boredom or out of love. On those fertile and pale green pitches, I will at least find the patience to bear the prevailing overdose.
Football and watchmaking: a marriage of convenience?
By René Giroud
Nowadays, football (soccer) attracts watch brands that tend to team up with elitist sports. However, this has not always been the case. The relationship...